The symptom profile and experience of children with rare life-limiting conditions: Perspectives of their families and key health professionals Document Title The symptom profile and experience of children with rare life-limiting conditions: Perspectives of their families and key health professionals Authors Cari Malcolm, Sally Adams, Gillian Anderson, Faith Gibson, Richard Hain, Anthea Morley, Liz Forbat. Publisher Cancer Care Research Centre, University of Stirling Publication Date 2011 Target Audience Paediatric palliative care staff, paediatric clinicians, policy-makers, service developers, families supporting children with life-limiting conditions. Funded By Children’s Hospice Association Scotland Key Words Advance care planning, Batten disease, expertise, extended family, family, Morquio disease, progressive life-limiting, relationships, Sanfilippo disease, siblings, symptoms. Contact Details www.cancercare.stir.ac.uk Tel: 01786 849260 Email:
[email protected] Copyright This publication is copyright CCRC and may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium. Any material used must be fully acknowledged, and the title of the publication, authors and date of publication specified. The symptom profile and experience of children with rare life- limiting conditions: Perspectives of their families and key health professionals Executive Summary Background Many non-malignant life-limiting conditions are individually extremely rare and little is known, even by professionals in the field, about the actual day-to-day symptomatology or the impact of these symptoms on the child and family. With little recorded in the literature regarding the symptoms that children with rare life-limiting conditions experience, and the associated impact of managing these symptoms on the wider family, an opportunity exists to widen the knowledge base in this area.